Various types of adjustable wrench drive sockets having adjustable jaws to grip a range of sizes or diameters of bolts, nuts or other fasteners have been provided with varying mechanisms, often of complex design, for tightening various forms of jaws up against a work piece fastener and with varying degrees of acceptance. Adjustable drive sockets typically have an annularly mounted mechanism wherein a rotatable element is rotated by an operator to adjust the jaws inwardly or outwardly to match the size of the work piece fastener. One such prior art socket taught by Lee (U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,446) is typical of adjustable jaw mechanisms wherein jaw elements have detent features, in this case teeth, selectably engaged by rotation of a control element defining predetermined fixed distances between the jaws. The detent features typically are intended to lock the jaw distance, and hence the size, such that the jaw spacing remains fixed as load is applied to the socket, else slippage of the jaw positioning can occur. Slippage manifests as an opening of the jaws causing, at minimum, poor fit of the socket to a work piece, inefficient load transfer to the work piece, risk of damage to the work piece mating surfaces and/or the socket and possible injury to the user upon sudden disengagement. Configurations requiring jaw locking mechanisms further necessitate that the locking mechanism bear much of the transfer load therefore requiring substantial load bearing capacity as provided by costly harden steel components. Hence, the load capacity of adjustable sockets is often limited as compared to a standard solid socket. In any case, the inherent characteristics of such mechanisms result in the socket having a propensity to increase the jaw spacing under load.
An object of using an adjustable socket is to minimize the number of sockets required in a tool set. The size adjustment range of the typical adjustable socket is limited. Typically, adjustable sockets have a relatively small size adjustment range thereby necessitating a number of adjustable sockets, albeit fewer than required in a fixed socket set.
In view of the load, grasping force, size, and range limitations of the typical prior art socket, the herein disclosed invention is provided to overcome the many disadvantages.